A Gift To Yourself This Holiday Season

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I tried as a bright eyed and bushy tailed small town girl to make it my (uninformed) personal mission to be the first person to outsmart LA traffic and get past the hundreds of other Angelenos racing home. It wasn’t but a week into my commute I realized how my small town ideals weren’t going to work in this overcrowded commuter town. Instead of naively trying to outsmart the traffic by diving in head first, right at 5pm, *cue eye roll* I started to strategize how to skip it completely. Gym in the morning, happy hour after work. And of course, there were always the days where traffic was unavoidable, so I’d cue up my newest playlist or podcast to get me through the hour and half of red brake lights.

Just like the traffic in Los Angeles, so it is with holiday exhaustion. It comes around every year, but for some reason, in those eleven months in between, our hopeful hearts forget the fatigue of the year prior and quickly begin to romanticize the Christmas coming with cozy nights in, agreeable family fun, and overall rejuvenation for the year to come. Then, like literal clockwork, the next holiday season is upon us and quickly we are reminded of the stress that ensues each December 1st.

So, just like my traffic journey, I’ve learned the hard way that there’s no outsmarting the holiday exhaustion. The holiday parties quickly add up, the forgotten Christmas present shopping, the airports or freeways to travel to family or in laws’ houses, it never goes away. It may (or may not) be as terrible as sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, but even in the extreme inconvenience of traffic, I found myself missing the alone time I had once I moved closer to work and my commute became obsolete. As with the traffic struggle, even though it may seem overwhelming, there’s beauty to be found in it. With a little self care and attention to your needs, you may not be able to skip the exhaustion completely, but you can find that same beauty in the chaos of the season.

Here are some of my December Self Love Tips:

Use a Calendar

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a 7 on the Enneagram that I don’t keep a calendar, (all you 1’s out there got this under control!) but it’s never been something I naturally adhere to. However, remembering how fatigued I was last year, I’ve started logging everything in my digital google calendar. LITERALLY EVERYTHING. And made it point to default to it before I made plans. Schedule in a bath or a night in too!

Lots of Breaks

Normally LA can be a social rat race and the pressure to go out is extreme. It helps to wind down when the sun goes down so early, but there are still a ton of holiday parties happening. So be ok with spending more time in than you normally would. When you are in more than usual, it’ll make those extra nights of going out even more fun.

Treat Yourself

This might sound selfish in such a giving season, both on the giving side and the receiving side. It’s easy to fall into the argument that you’re already receiving so much, it would be indulgent to buy for yourself. But come on, when was the last time your family actually got you something to your taste or preference?? I get a new set of pajamas every year so I definitely am ok with gifting myself a bit! Set a budget for it! You don’t need to go crazy, even a new pair of socks or a candle at Target helps.

Whatever holiday you may find yourself celebrating in this season, be encouraged to give yourself a little TLC. We often forget that we can’t really give to others until we first give to ourselves. It’s hard to be present and fully love the person in front of you when you haven’t spent the time to love yourself first. So cheers, my holiday fatigued friends, to giving yourself a little extra love this time around!

Happy Holidays!!

- Amanda